The scorching heat of July and August showed no signs of letting up, as the Western Pacific subtropical high clamped down on the southern cities around Xunchuan with an iron fist.
It was one of those muggy, sauna-like days with no breeze, and the moment the air conditioning was turned off for even a minute, the heat came rushing back.
Pei Wenliang had been waiting in the living room for Liang Wenpei since early. She had a job now and a driver's license, and Pei Xiaomei had promised to buy her a car.
Pei Xiaomei was too busy with inspections and document submissions for the opening of her new store, so she handed the task of buying the car over to Liang Wenpei.
She was just thinking that her brother still hadn't gotten up by nine o'clock and that she'd have to go knock on his door, when Liang Wenpei walked out.
He had showered after waking up, his hair still damp, wearing a loose short-sleeved shirt with an American football print and a thick silver chain around his neck. It made him look four years younger.
He was the type who never tanned no matter how much sun he got, but the bruising on his forehead had faded considerably, though the wound still looked somewhat gruesome.
Last week at the hotel, Liang Wenpei had received a call from his professor, who said the aid center needed a lawyer to provide defense for a woman and asked Liang Wenpei to go over.
On the phone, his professor said the woman's entire net worth was just a few hundred yuan—she probably couldn't even afford the material costs or travel expenses.
Liang Wenpei didn't care about that; he only asked what the specifics of the case were.
"She's a prostitute. A john nearly died in her bed—he's in the ICU now in a coma. The john's family wants to sue her for prostitution and suspected intentional injury."
Liang Wenpei went to the detention center to meet with her and understand the situation, then went to the hospital afterward.
The moment the family heard who Liang Wenpei was, their emotions immediately flared up. They looked at him as if he were the most heinous criminal.
They cursed him, saying he should go to hell with them. The john's nearly ninety-year-old mother raised her cane and struck Liang Wenpei, leaving that wound on his forehead.
Pei Wenliang opened the first aid kit: "Did you make sure not to get water on it when you washed your hair and showered?"
Liang Wenpei couldn't be bothered: "No need to apply medicine."
"It hasn't healed yet." Pei Wenliang rarely showed any firmness in front of her brother. She used her pinky to brush aside the stray hairs on his forehead, carefully disinfecting the wound before applying a bandage. "If this leaves a scar on your face, can we sue for more compensation?"
"Dream on." Liang Wenpei opened his phone's front camera to check. It had been several days already, and the wound was starting to scab over. It would probably heal soon.
"They should be severely punished—make an example of them." Pei Wenliang was still indignant.
Liang Wenpei chuckled: "Your Chinese has improved significantly."
He thought back to when she was in elementary school. Once, he was helping her with a math problem. The elementary school math problems had lots of cartoon illustrations, and one problem featured a little tiger and a little bear. The little tiger said their two numbers added up to eighteen. The little bear said it was three more than the tiger.
The question asked what the two numbers were, with blanks to fill in.
Liang Wenpei looked at the blanks and saw Pei Wenliang's ugly Chinese characters.
—They are tiger and bear.
That one problem exposed both his sister's math level and her Chinese level in one go. Probably from that moment on, he knew his sister would never become the hero who could save the Land of Light.
Pei Wenliang closed the first aid kit, unaware that her brother was thinking about her embarrassing childhood moments again.
After her anger subsided, she slyly leaned in close to Liang Wenpei and asked, "Want me to tell Sister Huang Ling about your injury next time I see her?"
Hearing his sister mention her, Liang Wenpei thought of what she had said to him at the hotel. His chest felt tight and heavy with discomfort, and a nameless anger had been slowly simmering his organs over low heat.
He let out a light snort, stubbornly refusing to admit it: "Why tell her? There's nothing to say between us."
"Really?" Pei Wenliang knew him too well, asking knowingly, "What if she might feel bad for you?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Liang Wenpei's expression softened slightly. The corner of his mouth lifted, then pressed back down: "Just… don't make it too obvious."
Zhao Bing's swift and decisive rectification plan had the entire housekeeping department in complete disarray.
Housekeeping was already physically demanding work, and room incentives were a form of reward. Now not only were the incentives gone, but people were getting fined as well. Rumors of many wanting to quit had even reached Huang Ling's ears.
Huang Ling didn't try to stop it. Zhao Bing would only know about these things before she did.
Ever since Zhao Bing came back, he'd been staying at the hotel almost every night for the night shift. In the mornings, you could see him yawning while eating breakfast at the hotel restaurant.
Because everyone's efficiency had slowed down, Luo Shuang and Huang Ling sometimes had to pitch in and clean rooms themselves. Back in college, during the monthly practical training week, they'd be flipping sheets and folding napkins. After surviving the initial grind and finally getting promoted—no more flipping sheets—now they were back to square one.
After three day shifts, Luo Shuang's back started aching. On top of that, her period was approaching, and her waist felt like it was about to snap.
"All he does is flap his lips, and we end up run ragged." Luo Shuang was making the bed, muttering curses at Zhao Bing under her breath as if it made her feel better. "Why doesn't he do it himself? That bastard belongs in hell. Lingling, do you have a shot at being the boss lady? I've had enough. You should be the boss lady, and then I can ride on your coattails, lord it over people, run amok, commit all sorts of crimes… pfft, no, that's not it—I mean, I can throw my weight around like a dog with its master's backing."
Twin room.
Huang Ling was making the other bed. Dressed in her uniform skirt, her movements were a bit awkward, much slower than Luo Shuang's. She finally finished, only to spot a tiny black speck on the linens.
She had no choice but to strip the sheet off.
Nothing is more torturous than wasted effort. Huang Ling let out a long sigh, too drained even to echo Luo Shuang's complaints.
A crackle of static came through the earpiece, followed by a voice from the banquet department.
"Housekeeping, this is Chen Yue from Banquets. Zone B of the first-floor banquet hall is short on tablecloths—need 30, urgent."
A second later, Zhao Bing's voice came through: "Copy that, 30 tablecloths. I'll have someone bring them over right away."
Luo Shuang had developed a visceral aversion to Zhao Bing; just hearing his voice made her roll her eyes.
Huang Ling gathered the stripped linens, about to grab clean ones from the linen cart, when she turned and saw Lu Ming standing at the guest room door—she had no idea when he'd arrived. He was holding a stack of tablecloths in his arms.
She wondered how much of their griping he'd overheard.
"Delivering linens to the banquet department?" Huang Ling asked proactively.
Lu Ming nodded.
Huang Ling reminded him, "Bring the linen requisition log too, and have the banquet department sign it. Make sure to note in the remarks that it's a temporary rush order with no prior request."
By the time Luo Shuang poked her head out at the sound of their conversation, Lu Ming was already gone.
Luo Shuang's earlier hostility had faded, replaced by a slightly sheepish tone as she asked Huang Ling what she thought of Lu Ming.
"You like him?" Huang Ling called her out.
"Thinking about giving it a shot." Luo Shuang didn't bother hiding it.
This time, Huang Ling was smarter—she checked the linens before making the bed: "I can't relate. I can't feel that spark with a coworker. If he made one less bed than me on a shift, I'd be furious enough to die. But if you're really into him, I'll schedule you two together next rotation."
Luo Shuang beamed. "Thanks."
But her joy lasted less than three minutes. After they finished cleaning, Zhao Bing, who'd been fiddling with crickets in the office, strolled in. He claimed he trusted Huang Ling's abilities, but still pulled a pair of white gloves from his pocket, moved the TV cabinet aside, and ran a finger along the dust behind it: "Sorry, mind giving it another once-over?"
Zhao Bing walked out and came face-to-face with a VIP guest of the hotel. A fawning smile plastered itself across his face: "President Lin, President Lin! Heading to dine at this hour? We've got the first-floor banquet hall all set up for you—if anything's not to your liking, just say the word."
Luo Shuang was so furious her temples throbbed, her head pounding. Someone gently tugged her arm—it was Huang Ling, signaling her to greet the distinguished guest outside the door.
Once the group had moved on, Luo Shuang threw a flurry of punches at the empty air. "I'm so pissed."
Huang Ling told her to take a break and handled the redo herself.
By the time they finished, half the lunch break was already gone.
Back in the office, Huang Ling felt a rare exhaustion from work—it was draining in a way she hadn't felt in a while.
Luo Shuang looked like she had one breath left in her. She chugged a full glass of water before speaking: "I'm more and more convinced—the only time people hate having three heads and six arms is when they're waxing their leg and arm hair. Every other moment, we should all have three heads and six arms!"
Her quip got a laugh out of everyone else in the office.
Huang Ling smiled and plugged her phone in to charge. The charging screen had barely appeared when her ringtone started blaring. She had to unplug the cable, borrowed a power bank from Luo Shuang, and stepped outside to take the call from Huang Yue.
Huang Yue had returned from Munich half a month ago. Back at the company, a pile of work had been waiting for her, and it took her two weeks to clear it. She was planning to come to Xunchuan this weekend—after all, her biological father was having surgery, and as his daughter, she needed to visit. There was also an important client she'd worked with before, who'd given birth half a month ago; she wanted to check in and maintain the relationship.
Huang Yue had worked in Xunchuan for a few years as a single woman, then at thirty-five, she'd taken Huang Ling to Hangzhou to build her career, step by step rising to her current position as head of the foreign trade department.
Neither of them had a place to stay in Xunchuan, and Huang Yue naturally wouldn't want to stay at her father's house or her sister's. She asked Huang Ling to book a room for her at the hotel where she worked.
"Sure." Huang Ling could get a discount on rooms. "What time's your high-speed rail? I'll have the concierge send a car to pick you up."
Huang Yue was a bit worried it might cause trouble for Huang Ling at work: "Just book the room, that's all."
After hanging up, Huang Ling went back to the office, found the Employee Room Request Form in the system, and printed it out.
Once the form was filled out, Huang Ling was about to go find Zhao Bing when Xiao Li told her he was helping out at the first-floor banquet hall.
Upon hearing this, Luo Shuang's face darkened with indignation. "Is he out of his mind? Our own department is swamped, and he doesn't lift a finger to help—what's he doing running off to the banquet hall?"
There were other colleagues in the office, so Huang Ling shot Luo Shuang a warning look. Though she too found Zhao Bing insufferable, he was still their direct superior. Luo Shuang understood what Huang Ling meant and reluctantly clamped her mouth shut.
Huang Ling grabbed a pen and the form, heading downstairs to find Zhao Bing. He was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, chatting with the banquet department supervisor. The one advantage of a smiling tiger was that he wouldn't publicly make things difficult for Huang Ling—Zhao Bing signed the form without any fuss.
After thanking him, Huang Ling immediately took the form to the HR department for approval. Qiao Yun was in her office unpacking packages—all dog treats and toys.
She looked like someone who could chat with Luo Shuang for hours, lost in the moment.
When Qiao Yun saw the "mother-daughter" relationship listed on the approval form, she joked about getting to see Young Master Lu's future mother-in-law.
Huang Ling still wasn't used to such jokes, but since she was asking for a favor, she kept an awkward smile on her face rather than making a scene. "Mr. Lu and I are just ordinary colleagues."
She waited impatiently for the signature, then grabbed the form and made a quick exit, afraid Qiao Yun might crack another inappropriate joke. As she closed the office door behind her, Huang Ling nearly collided with Pei Wenliang. Sweat dotted her forehead, and she was holding several cups of milk tea—she'd clearly just come back from picking up a takeout order.
"Sister." Pei Wenliang's eyes lit up at the sight of her, and she offered up the milk tea like a flattering gift. "Want some milk tea?"
There were several cups in her hands, ordered by headcount. If she gave one to Huang Ling, she'd probably go without herself.
Fortunately, Huang Ling wasn't much of a milk tea person. "You drink it. I'm getting older now—I don't really go for that stuff anymore."
"Come on, sister, you've always looked so young."
These two siblings—one had a mouth like arsenic, the other like little cakes.
Huang Ling smiled. "Been busy at work lately? Tired?"
"Not really." Pei Wenliang shook her head, but then her eyes darted slyly. "Work's not busy or tiring, but things get pretty hectic once I'm home. My brother recently took on a legal aid case, defending a defendant. A few days ago, he went to the hospital to visit the plaintiff and ended up getting hit by the plaintiff's family. Open wound to the forehead, laceration extending to subcutaneous tissue, vascular rupture with active bleeding."
The barrage of technical medical terms hit Huang Ling like a wall, and she couldn't help but frown. "That serious?"
"Yeah." Pei Wenliang secretly studied Huang Ling's expression. "Super serious. I've been taking care of him for days now. Sister, do you want to come visit him?"
"I…" Huang Ling's words caught in her throat. "I've been pretty busy lately. Don't push yourself too hard either—if it gets to be too much, consider hiring a caregiver."
With that, Huang Ling waved the form in her hand, using the excuse that she still needed to take it to the front office department for approval, and hurried off.
Stepping out of the administrative building, the harsh sunlight hit her square in the face. Huang Ling held the form up to shield her forehead and walked a few steps, her mind unsettled. She pulled out her phone from her pocket, but only lit up the screen before stuffing it back.